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The Holy Sojourn Chapter 3: I Má Redh
Previous Chapter: The Holy Sojourn Chapter 2 Next Chapter: The Holy Sojourn Chapter 4 I Má Redh I # Then it came to pass that Kalyar beckoned me to follow him. We walked together into the heart of the forest Ilsa so that none could break our peace. # “If I may ask my lord, then, what actions would so cause the Lord of Life recoil from them?” # Kalyar spoke, saying, “Life is sacred, Son of Darkness. To end a life where there was no warrant is the greatest of sins against Us. # Indeed, search yourself and ask of this: what greater thing, in all the worlds, can be found but Life? To call such sin abhorrent ill fits the pain it sows.” # “What then, my lord, should become of one who takes such life?" # “As for that soul, may thick darkness take hold o’er their domain, and may never their children be wrought forth. Jerua shall be barred to them, the spirits of pain their only companions. # They shall wander eternal the forgotten places, never to feel the sweet touch of rest or death. I will make long their sorrow and break their bones, their flesh flung to gnashing teeth and their seas of life dried up before them. # I will rebuke their kingdoms and cut down their lineage so that even the greatest among them will fall on empty seeds. # Unquala shall not weep for them; they will be lost forever.” # “And what, my lord, is the parameters of such offense?” # “The claiming of a life where none was warranted, Son of Darkness, is the quickest path to annihilation. Murder, as so defined by He who sows Life, would be as follows: # ‘No man shall take life unless his own is first endangered, And only the course of execution shall spare the innocent. # No man shall die by the Judge or Jury unless their crime was Murder first # No man shall go to war to take the lives of nations Unless they themselves are prepared to surrender their lives for the cause’ # This is what I speak to you, Son of Darkness. Go forth and serve The Seven now, for your days are dark and numbered. I shall walk with you until such a time when you must travel beyond my jurisdiction.” II # The Lord of Life walked with me then, north with the stars, until the winds settled in the green country known as Lancerus. Lancerus was thick with forest. The sun was as a faint shimmer against the canopy above. No part of this land was bare. # And then the Lord of Life spoke, saying, "Here shall be the sight of harvest, that many may lay down their lives for the nurturing of Men to come. Take heed, child of My dawn, to not let their lives be in vain." # He gestured then to the trees and foliage, pine and oak and birch and weed and flower, before bringing their eyes to mine. III # Kalyar took me to his side and gestured with his hand to the east. “You will travel north now, to the domain of my beloved sister Unquala to hear her wisdom, for this is your path. You are to take the path through Falfir and must not take the pass through the Wastes, for that will lead you unto Yavinta. You must not go there, for there is no touch of good upon that place.” # “How will I know where this place lies so that I may steel my eyes against it?” I asked. # “By the sky containing great signs And by the citadels of black and white And by those who witnessed the witness, Where Seven and Five made One and Eight, Do true avoid this place. # Where red rivers flow, hot and slow, And the earth bleeds and boils. # Cursed were the companions of the Goth; Containing the fire full of rage tinder. And when their master fell they stoked their flames # And they, to what they were doing against the Seven’s sons, were witnesses. And they resented them for their escape. They resented the Redeemed One for Her escape. # But Seven witnessed all, as did the One made many. And Five made Men resent them still And made strong their bastions.” # Kalyar gave unto me a horse of Sigyafrin’s own brood and spoke. “Ride now to Falfir and gather unto you a following that the passage to lands less fair be made in strength of unity. Remember the love of those who follow you, and remember the love of The Seven you follow.”